KIEV — Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan’s authoritarian ruler for 27 years, has died after suffering a brain hemorrhage, and his funeral will take place on Saturday in his home city of Samarkand.
Uzbek officials confirmed on Friday that the 78-year-old leader had passed away, after days of rumors of his demise.
“Uzbek President Islam Karimov has died. May Allah rest him in peace,” Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım told cabinet ministers in televised remarks.
Uzbekistan, a mineral-rich ex-Soviet state with Central Asia’s largest population, now enters a period of extreme political uncertainty. Karimov did not name a successor, and the country’s elite so far …read more
Source: European Voice
